Beautiful Ba Be & Ban Gioc - Vietnam's Best Kept Secret!
Set in Mountainous terrain north of Hanoi, Ba Be is one of Vietnam's most picturesque and least visited National Parks. Literally meaning ‘Three Bays', the National Park is protects three beautiful interconnecting lakes which can be explored on a private long tail boat steered by a fisherman. A day's excursion on a local boat will take you to see the Hang Puong Cave where thousands of bats live. Even with a spot-light it is unlikely that you'll spot them in the high ceiling of the cave, but don't worry you'll hear them and you'll certainly smell them (Clothes-peg optional!) To the west of the lake you can visit the Thac Dau Dang waterfall and stop for lunch in a local village. Many, (me included) decide to extend their stay for a second day to take advantage of some of the great trekking in the National Park. Ba Be is also an ideal place for bird-watching, and a day trekking can bring you face to face with all sorts (and colours) of feathered friends.
The small village of Pac Ngoi on the southern end of the lake is where you will stay when you visit Ba Be and it is the ideal place to experience a Vietnamese homestay. While you explore the village, mix with the locals or help the children in your homestay with their English homework, your hosts will prepare some fresh fish from the Lake for your dinner. A homestay in Ba Be will offer you a comfortable but simple sleeping berth curtained off from the communal areas of their wooden stilted-house.
For those with a bit more time on their hands to explore Northern Vietnam further, head North from Ba Be to Cao Bang, near the Chinese Border. The big attraction here is the spectacular Ban Gioc waterfall, whose image adorns the walls of Chinese restaurants worldwide. Bang Gioc is the largest (widest, not the tallest) waterfall in Vietnam. The waterfall acts as the border between Vietnam and China and the Vietnamese side not only enjoys a much larger stretch of the falls, but it is also delightfully empty and undeveloped, especially when you look across the water and see the drones of Chinese tourists walking on paved concrete paths on the other side. Some canny Vietnamese traders linger on rafts on the water waiting for Chinese tourists to pass by boat. When a boat passes, they jump at the chance to sell cigarettes and bottle of liquor to them (‘duty free anyone?!')
Ban Gioc can be visited as a day trip from Cao Bang and combined with the impressive Nguom Ngao cave, one of the most spectacular cave systems in all of Vietnam. The cave was used as a hiding place by locals during the 1979 war against China. Other caves near Cao Bang include the Hang Bac Po Cave where Ho Chi Minh lived on his return from exile in 1941. It is from this cave that he launched the revolution and the cave is therefore a very special sight for the Vietnamese.
We've put together a new tour, ‘The Natural Beauty of North-eastern Vietnam', an adventurous itinerary for people looking to explore this beautiful region (follow us on facebook to see more photos of northern Vietnam).